Wise County Legisative Days-Austin

For the first time ever two things happened! First, J and I got to go on a work trip together! We have never had the opportunity to both travel for work to the same event. Second, I hate to admit it but I have never spent any time in Austin as an adult.  So the past few days have been so much fun. We left Wise County around 8 AM and headed to Austin. We checked in to the Lonestar Court Motel in North Austin and walked around and shopped at the Domain. This motel is so cool! It is vintage with a modern Texan twist. Super clean rooms and a really good breakfast included in our stay. They have fire pits in the courtyard that they light at night and offer smores. They have Texas beers and wine in the Smeg Refrigerator as well as candies and chips and salsa. I thought it was so genius of them to have chips and salsa because who doesn't want that after a long night out!

 Our first night we were invited to J's friend's house for a wonderful meal. It was so great to finally meet him and his family. I truly hope that we get to see them again sometime in the near future. After dinner we went to have a cocktail with friends at the Driscoll Bar. Then we all grabbed a car and went to a place on Easy 5th I believe called Justine's. This place was so cool! The website says "very late night dining" and that is exactly what it was! Spaghetti, steak, escargot, burgers, it was a great menu. That night a huge rain storm blew in so we just sat in this dimly lit French-style brasserie and watched the storm and it was the most enjoyable Sunday night. They are open from 9PM to 2AM and I can't wait to go back. I hope we make a habit of going there on our future trips to Austin.

  

Monday morning we got up early and had breakfast. It was a chilly morning but it turned out to be a beautiful day. J and I packed up and drove to our hotel downtown. After we checked in we headed over to South Congress to walk through the different shops and grab some food. Claire was the only person that got anything but I could have spent some money on myself in a few of those shops! We sat at a sidewalk table and had tacos and sangria at Guero's Tacos before we headed to back to change for our reception that evening.

         

After we relaxed and got all dressed up, we went over to the Cloak Room for some pre-reception drinks. Several Wise County folks came over to join us and we passed the time before the reception at the Driscoll. The Driscoll Hotel is so beautiful and the staff did an excellent job at the Wise County Legislative Days Reception. After the reception we were invited to dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse. I am always that person that researches restaurants and know exactly what I am going to order but for whatever reason I didn't do this at all for this trip. So, I am thinking that this is some old one-off steakhouse that is dimly lit been around for decades. Not at all. Sullivan's is fantastic! It is a beautiful place downtown with floor to ceiling windows looking out at downtown Austin. The food was wonderful, the company was wonderful and it was overall just a great dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel for a night cap with some of the others. About half went back to the hotel and half went to Rainey Street. Although I would have loved to explore Rainey Street I was ready to get a good nights sleep.

Tuesday morning started with a big breakfast at the hotel and then everyone walked over to the Capitol for a picture and to be recognized from the floor. J and I visited with Representative Phil King's staff and while we were there they filed some legislation that he was involved in. He was really excited about that. We left shortly after lunch to get home to our girl. We had a really great time together but we were ready to squeeze Claire!